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Tuesday, 11 September 2012

TRAIL NETWORK VISION

As mentioned below Stuart Bucholtz outlined for the Township Council a vision of how both the Mclellan Park West and Mclellan Park East forests might become part of the TransCanada Trail. He was doing this on behalf of Leon Lebrun and Larri Woodrow of TrailsBC. TrailsBC is the representative of the TransCanada Trail in the province.Leon Lebrun was in attendance and was prepared to answer any questions that Mayor and Councillors might have had.Here is a link to a letter that Leon Lebrun sent to Council last week.

Stuart's remarks were based on discussions he has had with both Mr. Lebrun and Mr. Woodrow. On two separate occasions(once with Leon and once with Larri) they explored the forest and the neighbourhood and considered possible trails through private lands that would run the TransCanada from 88th to the two forested parcels and from there to the Nathan Creek dike. I want to emphasize that these proposals are only preliminary and would require negotiations with private landowners. Nevertheless we believe it likely that local landowners would welcome the TransCanada Trail.The tourism potential for such businesses as Barkley Brook and the Fort Wine Co. should be obvious.

RED LINES INDICATE THE FOREST LOTS CURRENTLY OR PREVIOUSLY FOR SALE

RED LINES INDICATE EXISTING OR ENVISIONED TRAILS BY TOWNSHIP

The current proposal for the TransCanada Trail is along 88th. This route is a busy road and has few if any natural features. This alternate route would be highly scenic and have many natural features.It is wild. Ultimately the trail network could be connected to the Glen Valley Escarpment and to various regional parks in the area.

The most important thing to remember though is that if any or all of the lots currently for sale were sold that would destroy the rationale for taking a route through the forests. The ecosytem would be so damaged that the Wild factor(and Wow factor) would be destroyed.